


The Stage is Set

by HopeRebel



Series: Hope's Super Shorts [1]
Category: Dracula - Bram Stoker
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attraction to Villains, Death Wish of a Sorts?, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, Vampires, weird-ass dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24008422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeRebel/pseuds/HopeRebel
Summary: What happens when Dracula sets up an entire play about himself as an opportunity to ensnare his next victim/bride.
Relationships: Dracula/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Hope's Super Shorts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731499
Kudos: 6





	The Stage is Set

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the first of my very weird-ass dreams that make close to no sense, but are extremely vivid. I just need a place to put them outside of my own mind. So, without further ado, here's the first of Hope's Super Shorts.

I sat down in my ticketed seat, up against the wall on both my right hand side, and behind me. No one else sat in the seat beside me, so I pulled my leg up under myself, my other foot dangling on the floor. 

The show had been billed as a “unique and alternate” take on the Dracula legend, and I was intrigued. With the show about to start, I looked at the stage. A small wooden room had been built stage right above a small staircase, and a walkway cut across the stage from that room all the way off into the wings stage left. The rest of the stage was black, with almost sheer curtains hanging everywhere. I knew they were going to be using projections, so the curtains made sense. 

As the house lights went down, a figure appeared in the room on stage. Tall, with raven dark hair and a charming smile, he began, “This is not the story you think you know, but the story as I know it.” Then the stage descended into darkness. 

Screams erupted from the stage, and when the lights came back up, the room was gone, the man was gone, and there was a woman lying onstage in a puddle of blood. The stage had shifted to resemble the no man’s land of the western front during World War I, and the sounds of battle echoed in the background. 

As the events of the first act unfolded, I began to feel cold. I was trying in vain to warm myself up, when strong arms enveloped me from behind. “Here, let me help you stay warm.” His embrace was comforting, and his voice was soothing. I knew he couldn’t really be there, there were walls where he should have been standing behind me. 

“How are you here? There’s a wall there. You aren’t real, are you?” I whispered, still watching the play, but relaxing into his hold.

He chuckled, “Believe me, I am really here. Strange though it may seem. How are you enjoying my show?” he spoke lowly into my ear.

With his question, I realized that not only did he play Dracula, he was actually Dracula himself. I should have been scared, but I wasn’t. “It’s interesting, seeing your side of things. How do you feel about your show?”

“Ahh, I like it. But that’s not the point. The point is that you’re here. The point is that you stay through the second act, and I don’t scare you away.” He held me just a fraction tighter, as I tried to soak in his warmth.

“You’re not scaring me away,” I murmured. 

At that moment, a light went on from offstage, and three women in the first few rows of the audience began to boo at the stagehand who had turned the light on. One even stood and called out, “Your light is on! Turn it off!”

I whispered back to the man holding me, “Well, that’s uncalled for.”

He laughed lowly again. “I guess I should go take care of that. Please stay here. I promise I’ll come back.” I felt more than saw him ascend upwards and swoop into the wings, as the light from offstage was suddenly doused. He walked back onstage, with not a hair or piece of clothing out of place, looking perfectly unruffled. He turned to the audience, and I knew he was looking directly at me. “The fun continues in the second act,” he declared, and disappeared from center stage as the house lights came back up. 

I turned my program to its last page, and read, “This has all been for you. I have been searching for you.” Somehow, I knew that these words were on my program alone, and I shivered, not unpleasantly. He was dangerous, I knew that. _And possibly evil, too_ , my mind reminded me. But I couldn’t help wanting to feel his arms around me again.


End file.
